Why Instagram conquered social media

Remember when people were amazed that Facebook would spend $1 billion on Instagram? Ha!

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(Image credit: illustrated | iStock/SectoR_2010, eugenesergeev)

Remember when people were amazed that Facebook would spend $1 billion on Instagram? Back in 2012, the mobile app was known primarily for retro filters placed over the photos of its young urban users. The company had no revenue. It didn't even have an Android app. What folly!

Things couldn't be more different now. An analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence recently valued Instagram at $100 billion. The photo platform recently crossed a billion monthly active users, and the same Bloomberg analyst suggested it's on track to double that already gargantuan figure. And perhaps most significantly, people now are beginning to spend about as much time in the Instagram app as in Facebook's.

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Navneet Alang

Navneet Alang is a technology and culture writer based out of Toronto. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, New Republic, Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt.